


Nightmares

by EmJ93



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 16:50:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17084084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmJ93/pseuds/EmJ93
Summary: Ariela has a recurring nightmare about the fate that her past life had led Iovara to. She finds that distressing enough, until one night the dream changes for the worse.





	Nightmares

The memories came upon Ariela every now and then. Hers, but not hers; memories of another life. 

They’d been overwhelming for her at first, overtaking her senses completely and dragging her mind away from the present to relive some past experience as though it were happening to her once again. But after Sun in Shadow, after her soul had found some measure of peace, they had become more natural, and she began to find them more difficult to distinguish from the events of her current life. 

The waking memories that came upon her were usually rather pleasant; a childhood sweetheart that it would eventually occur to her she had not actually had in this life, a favourite dress in an ancient style, an image of a place that she had never been flickering across her mind when she tried to picture home. She remembered one face in particular more often than any other; Iovara, a kind and gentle soul with a strength unlike any she had encountered across multiple lifetimes. The woman had been important to the person that she had been, Ariela knew. A friend, a confidant, a lover. The memories of her always evoked a complicated mix of feelings: joy, fondness… regret.

The memories that came to her in her dreams were less enjoyable. Schemes and betrayal, torture and death. Sometimes she would awaken from them, shaking and sobbing, the images lingering in her mind long into the day, making it difficult for her to find sleep again the next night. Iovara featured prominently in these memories as well, the weight of what had happened to her, what the person who Ariela had once been had  _done_  to her, still heavy on her soul.

Ariela didn’t think that the dreams could get worse. Night after night, she saw it; someone who she had once loved bound and bloody, tortured and physically broken, knowing that their pain would never end, knowing that it was  _her_  that had put them there. Ariela wanted to cry, to scream, to do anything at all, but the woman that she had once been did nothing. Felt nothing.

And then one night the dream shifted. 

It began the same as always, the same memory that it had always been, until suddenly it was someone else in front of her; a different lover’s face looking back at her, wracked with pain, betrayal in his eyes. Ariela tried to move, to rush to his side, but her body was locked in place, leaving her powerless to do anything but watch. Watch as Aloth lay beaten and broken in front of her, a nagging feeling somewhere in the back of her mind that it was somehow her fault. That she had led him to this point, or that she soon would.

She awoke with a start, tears streaming down her cheeks, her throat raw, and it occurred to her that she had been screaming in her sleep. 

Arms wrapped around her body tightly, pulling her close, fingers brushing through her hair. “Ye alright, Lass?” A beat, and then a different voice. Her lover. “Ariela? Are you… Is there anything that I can do?”

She took a deep breath, attempting to calm her breathing and put an end to her sobbing. She wanted to sound confident, put together, but her voice came out shaky and weak. “I… no. I’m alright.”

She pulled back slightly, not leaving his embrace, but giving herself space to wipe the tears from her eyes and begin to search his face. His pretty features were twisted in concern, pale blue eyes watching her intently, with no hint of the betrayal or accusation she had seen in her dream. She brought up a hand to caress his cheek, before moving it down, letting her fingers explore the planes of his body, mapping his familiar frame. He had all the same scars, the markings of former victories and unpleasant reminders of his past, and she was relieved to find no new injuries amongst them. It had just been a dream. Just a horrible dream.

“You’re safe.” She murmured, relaxing back into his embrace and relishing in the way his fingers moved in soothing circles against her skin. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, pressing gentle kisses against his throat. It had just been a dream. He was safe. “As long as you’re safe, then I’ll be alright." 


End file.
